Why Do People Vote Against Their Own Interest?

[Minor Axis]

Dear God, are you people still claiming a surplus during Clinton? That "surplus" existed because public held debt went down, but intragovernmental holdings went up. They borrowed money from Medicare and Social Security in order to make it look like there was a surplus, when in actuality the national debt went up every year during the Clinton presidency. It was smoke and mirrors, and I can't believe any of you actually still buy into it.

Where's your documentation?

And yet somehow Mr. Obama and his Democronies in Congress managed to expand the deficit beyond an astronomical $1.2 trillion to $1.5 billion for the coming year. As much as GWB spent money like it was going out of style, they're adding to the debt at a rate 3X what he did...

Don't sit there and make the absolutely fucking ridiculous case that Barack Obama is even remotely fiscally responsible. The only billions he's met that he doesn't want to spend are the one's that are Constitutionally authorized....

Where's your chart?

I do realize these arguments go absolutely no where. I quote a source, you sometimes quote a source. In the end, everyone comes down based on their political leanings... Here is a blurb from Factcheck.org:

Q:
During the Clinton administration was the federal budget balanced? Was the federal deficit erased?
A:
Yes to both questions, whether you count Social Security or not.

No you guys can rave about why Factcheck is some kind of liberal conspiricy...

 

[Minor Axis]

Follow the Leader by Anne Quindlen.

One poll of former Obama supporters who abandoned the Democrats in Massachusetts showed that 41 percent of those who opposed the health-care plan weren't sure exactly why. If elected officials are supposed to act based on the wisdom of ordinary people, they're going to need ordinary people to be wiser than that.

In other words the voters should know why they are for or against an issue, and not just a vibe.

Social issues are easy: you're either for or against the death penalty, abortion, gay marriage. Economics are complex. Over and over again some Americans say they want lower taxes and smaller government. Yet somehow, in a recurrent bit of magical thinking, they also expect those things that taxes are used to pay for and that government delivers. The result is contradictory: vote down the school-board budget, then complain that Johnny can't read.

Instead of mindless promises to lower your taxes, the discussion should be how much in taxes do you want to pay, and what do you want to get for those taxes?